You've seen the pictures. Some friend/girlfriend/co-worker takes pictures of their REALLY fat cat and shows them off. Some people love this. In fact, some people love this enough to start a blog dedicated to pictures of fat cats.
But is it wrong to ogle a cat because of it's body type and shape? From where does this appeal of a "fat cat" stem? What about people who feed their cat a lot to keep it fat? Do people purposely fatten up their pets? Or just like giving them treats?
I love the internet. I really do. I don't know who invented it (though I believe one of the engineers who works for my client when he claims to have been involved) and I don't care. It's awesome.
If for no other reason than it gives rise to things like this.
(Pause while you click the link and scroll through the site for a moment).
Yes. That is correct.
You are viewing a Web site devoted entirely to photo-edited images of actor Tom Selleck, along with a waterfall and a sandwich. Each image is different, featuring different poses of Tom (all with full 'stache...some even with chest hair), different bodies of water and a variety of sandwiches that would fill the menu board of seven New York Delis and a Tat's.
The internet holds many wonders...what have you stumbled upon lately?
Is it me or are shows getting bigger and more outrageous each year? Is it to attract viewers? Have awards shows jumped the shark? Or does the voyeur in all of us want to see celebrities so badly that we'll continue watching regardless of how ridiculous the shows become?
You probably never thought you'd be asked if you were "Team Leno" or "Team Coco". After Jay Leno took over as host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC, there was some discussion around "Leno or Letterman" as people debated which host they preferred for post-local news TV.
But as ratings continued to plummet for "The Jay Leno Show" (apparently we don't like him at 10pm) and ratings for "The Tonight Show" hosted by Conan O'Brien were lackluster, there was talk of shifting Leno back to his role as host of "The Tonight Show" to try to regain viewers.
Drama ensued. Here's the recap:
NBC: We gotta do something about these ratings. Maybe we send Leno back to 11:35pm and slide Conan back a slot. Or maybe we quit airing both of them and show more reality TV instead. Whatever we do, we cant lose advertisers.
Leno: Yeah, I guess I'll go back to the 11:35pm time slot. I was king of that time slot. Jay-walking is WAY funnier after the local news.
Yada, yada, yada, tonight is the final taping of "The Tonight Show" hosted by Conan O'Brien.
What's really interesting is that in the first week of this drama, the internet blew up with chatter about "Leno vs. O'Brien vs. NBC". Twitter conversation about the two hosts jumped from next-to-nothing to near the heights of much-discussed TV shows "Glee" and "Jersey Shore".
Widely-read pop culture blogs asked for editorial cartoons from readers and people began replacing their Facebook profile pic with images of their favorite host.
And now that the decision has been made, the commentary ranges from lashing out against NBC, claiming that they treated Conan unfairly to speculation over NBC's wisdom in giving Conan a large buyout* when their earnings are down. MarketWatch raises the question of whether NBC's choice to send Leno back to "Tonight" will be the ratings savior they need to keep a tight grasp on hard-to-come-by network TV advertising dollars. Or if this is another sign that network TV is flailing and NBC has a 'For Sale' sign in its future.
*The terms of the deal releasing Conan from his contract with NBC included a $33million payout for the host and $12million for his writing & production staff. The deal also stipulates that on September 1, 2010, O'Brien will be free to accept a new contract and transfer his brand to another network. Fans are speculating that he'll land anywhere from FOX to Comedy Central to the internet. As a long time Conan fan, I hope to see him somewhere soon. Until then, I may just have to get by with clips like this on YouTube:
Several University of Rhode Island students are challenging this policy, claiming its humiliating to have your house tagged and therefore unconstitutional.
What do you think? Should police be able to tag "animal houses"? And if you were a student, would you really be embarassed by this? Or consider it a badge of honor? How would you react?
We are Porter Novelli Seattle, a PR agency that utilizes traditional and new media techniques to service its tech, consumer and public affairs practices.
These are our musings on the things that “Fizzle” and the things that “Pop” within our industry.
The views expressed on this site are our own and do not reflect those of our employer or its clients.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 12:56PM 
